The New Hall

At an open meeting in June 1999 the local community resolved to refurbish or replace the existing church hall which was nearly 80 years old and in a very poor state of repair. The church hall site was held in trust by the Llandaff Diocesan Trustees and negotiations were entered into for a leasehold agreement to enable the local community to take over the site.

In April 2004 a charitable association, the Llansannor Community Hall Association (LCHA), was established to take the project to its final stage. With the formation of the LCHA, the community had a properly constituted organisation that could negotiate formally with the Diocesan Trustees and apply to funding agencies for grants to build the new hall. In January 2006, the LCHA became a Registered Charity (No: 1112822).

Over the summer of 2004 the LCHA committee carried out a questionnaire survey of local residents to establish some guidelines for the hall design. Questionnaires were delivered to every household in Llansannor and 41 completed returns were received, representing 32 households and 81 local residents.

In May 2005 the LCHA appointed a local architect to the project. He produced a series of designs taking into account the findings of the questionnaire survey. An attractive hall design emerged which combined traditional and modern elements - the design contained echoes of the old hall, but in the context of a modern architectural treatment.

A grant awarded by the Vale of Glamorgan Centre for Voluntary Services in April 2005 funded a planning application for the new hall, and planning permission was granted by the Vale Council in September 2005. In July 2005, agreement with the Diocesan Trustees was finally reached on the terms of a 20-year lease on the hall plot. The lease ensures that the new hall is made freely available to the Church on agreed occasions but allows the hall also to serve the wider recreational and other needs of the local community.

By mid 2005 everything was in place to allow the LCHA to apply for funding for the new hall. Successful applications were made to the EU Article 33 fund, administered by Creative Rural Communities on behalf of the Vale of Glamorgan Council and Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), and the Communities Facilities & Amenities Programme, administered by the Rural Regeneration Unit of the WAG. With match funding by the LCHA, a total sum of nearly £220 000 was ultimately raised.

The LCHA went out to tender in January 2006. Due to delays in the award of grants, the appointed contractor could not commence work until 24 April and the terms of the Article 33 award required the project to be completed by the end of August. So, we had just nineteen weeks to remove the old hall and build a new one after seven years of arduous preparatory work!

With sterling work by the contractors and extensive voluntary work by local people, the demolition of the old church hall and its replacement by a new community hall in the short time available to us was successfully achieved.

Llansannor now has an attractive new hall designed for a wide range of community uses. Its specification meets the very latest building regulations in terms of thermal insulation, disabled access and radon protection. The picture windows at the front of the building provide magnificent views over the scenic valley of the River Thaw. Its external appearance, including the use of wood cladding and local stone, enables it to blend harmoniously into its hillside setting with natural exposures of limestone.

The Llansannor Hall
A poem by David Morgan to celebrate
the opening of the new hall

They've built a new hall down in City
The old one had seen its best days
And tho' some of us thought it a pity
It was suffering from age and decay

There are all sorts of tales where it came from
Its history's a bit in the dark
But Tal is now of the opinion
That it's all that was left of the Ark

A decision then had to be made
If a new hall was needed in City
And because it's the practice in Wales
It was decided to form a committee

The problems at first seemed immense
Would there be a demand for its use?
Where would we find the finance?
Were we putting our heads in a noose?

But those who had faith battled on
Their object and mission quite clear
The light in the tunnel still shone
That vision would one day appear

When the cost of the job was before us
Peter Jarvis was filled with alarm
He said that it seemed quite enormous
When compared with a shed for the farm

The committee then went on a mission
To find grants and sources of aid
They succeeded, and then the decision
To start building was finally made

To start with the Church were quite slow
When it came to the lease on the land
But agreed when we were able to show
That the hall wasn't founded on sand

We then saw the site being cleared
Of trees, boulders and rock
Foundations and walls then appeared
The project was going tick-tock

On went the roof and the cladding
But then a big problem arose
In the "gents" a mistake in the measure
Meant the men would be stood on tip toes

The DIY floor quickly followed
It went down in the blink of an eye
With pride we all stood and wallowed
Shows what we can do when we try

Cardiff's Millennium Centre
Is said to fill people with awe
But they haven't the view from their windows
That we have when you look through that door

Now it's time to acknowledge the heroes
Who toiled to get us this far
Time doesn't allow all a mention
But I'm sure they all know who they are

So let us make sure that we use it
Playgroup, society or club
Then we can say that the effort was worth it
All that we need now's a pub!